“In its
1996 Third Regional Plan, the
Regional Plan Association describes a rapid transit line in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx that could be built almost entirely on pre-existing rail rights of way and would connect with at least twenty existing subway lines. The so-called “Triboro RX” (“TRX” for short) presents a unique opportunity to provide mobility and accessibility to New Yorkers living or working within these three boroughs, at a fraction of the cost of most transit projects of similar size. In my part-time internship at the RPA, which ends today, the lion’s share of the work I have done has focused on fleshing out the idea of this line.” And he did it with mostly open source tools:
GPL mapping and GIS software,
GPS to digital camera sync,
Google Map maship, population and commuter
demand modeling... Mike’s
data sources and
results are up on his
TRX wiki.